Years as a bench coach under a pretty good Manager in Maddon and he speaks spanish which would be a benefit given our roster and our Cuban influx..
Next Dodgers manager will be walking a tightrope Buster Olney | Senior Writer, ESPN Insider — 7 hours ago Right after the Houston Astros clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season, Houston manager A.J. Hinch offered congratulations to his players, and in that speech he used a profanity with long-term design. The word cannot be printed here, but let's just say it has a baker's dozen of letters in plural form. It was a word he had used in his first clubhouse meeting with the Astros this spring and in subsequent conversations, and by the time he employed it in that champagne-saturated clubhouse in Arizona, its meaning had grown to include kinship, a work ethic, respect and affection. The blue-collar word distinguished Hinch for the players and helped to separate him from any of the baggage than might've been attached to him in the past, because being Stanford-educated and well-versed in analytics and front-office machinations isn't uniformly perceived among players as a good thing. This was a problem in Hinch's first go-round as a manager in Arizona, where players thought him to be too closely aligned to his bosses rather than an independent force who could be trusted. With the Astros, Hinch has smartly forged his own identity and a separate, important relationship with his players. In an era in which lineup and game decisions are determined by front-office-driven analytics, the manager's ability to build a persona and credibility with the players separate from the front office has become a crucial element of success. That will be the challenge for Gabe Kapler if he becomes the next Dodgers manager; as the hiring process begins, Kapler is the heavy favorite. Fair or not, he would be perceived among some of the players as a puppet of the front office, handpicked to replace someone they respected as a person, Don Mattingly, because of Kapler's willingness to go along with the front-office reindeer games. The players will draw this conclusion because Kapler has almost no practical experience managing other than limited work in the minors, and while Kapler played a dozen years in the majors, that time served will not provide instant respect for him among the players because he wasn't a star, he wasn't a name player. Mattingly's advantage, even as a newbie manager, was that he was a superstar when he played, and he was well-liked by Dodgers players for his steady nature. They saw that by the time L.A. was knocked out in the playoffs, he was worn down by the interaction with the front office, which was by all accounts something akin to a proctologic exam: respectful, as dignified as possible under the circumstances and thorough. After months of probing, Mattingly's joy appeared to be missing by October, when he explained his lineup and bullpen decisions to the media in shorthand: Today, this is what gives us the best chance to win.
I'm fine with Kapler. Obviously he's very smart for him to be giving that Player Development role by a guy like Friedman with basically no front office/development experience. He must be well respected. He's new school which meshes with Friedman and me too quite frankly. He's also said to be a good people person, which bodes well in the clubhouse. Just hope the clubhouse would respect him. Still a bit risky though.
Whoever gets this job needs to sell Z Greinke that this is still the team to play for. The night of the game 5 loss I knew that Zack was going to bolt. The youth movement might be worth a gamble. As poorly as the youngins played in that Mets series, they got some big time game experience, which should pay off. We all know that there's a lot of baggage on this team that needs to be dumped. I have to say I never thought that DM would be booted to the curb, but I must admit I'm not upset.......and shortly after hearing that he agreed to go I had a shot of Bacardi.....a double actually. A lot of changes should be expected but Kershaw and Greinke need to be the big names that are kept to help this team in the future. JMO of course.
The best thing I love about this board is it has the sickest, most dry sense of humor in MLB. Damn that alone will keep me here. Here's one for all the posters here on this board.....Damn, I can't stop laughing my ass off......
you can't get over it because in your own sick world it was masterful and you wish you could have done it
Greinke doesn't know everything, but of course he's fairly honest, so I'd like to hear his take on what kind of contract he would give himself. THEN we will know if he's as gangster as everyone thinks he is. Because I don't think any exec is gonna open up negotiations with a 5 or 6 year offer that pays him like 60M combined at ages 36 and 37. He may end up getting that when the bidding kicks into gear, but if Close allows the Dodgers 1st dibs I think they open up with a 4yr pact worth around 120MM
i could see that happening of course zack wants to get paid but if he's happy here, we hire a manager he likes and add a david price... who knows?